Old School: B
BY NEIL FAUERSO
Isn't a big dose of Will Ferrell just what you need right now? (©2003 Dreamworks LLC)
Director Todd Phillips (Road Trip) makes movies
dramatically retro: he’s the only guy still working in the T&A and
beer-bong comedies that framed the 80s. His latest endeavor, Old
School, is
no exception—its plot is almost a carbon copy of Revenge
of the Nerds or Animal House. The one nifty, albeit obvious, twist is that Old
School makes
its horny protagonists old—not really old, but old enough to tuck their
polo shirts into their khakis.
Mitch (Luke Wilson) is a stand-up, amiable real-estate lawyer, the kind
of guy that leaves boring meetings early to surprise his girlfriend (Julliete
Lewis). But, as in all gross-out comedies with nice-guy protagonists,
doing that sort of thing never works, and Mitch discovers his girlfriend
has a penchant for blindfolded orgies. Crushed and alone, Mitch moves
into a spacious house near the local college, hoping for some recovery
time. But his two best friends, Bernard (Vince Vaughn) and Frank (Will
Ferrell), stultified by the complicity of marriage, aren’t exactly
going to let that happen. Starting a fraternity that has almost nothing
to do with the college and everything to do with debauchery, Mitch, Frank,
and Bernard become veritably unhinged.
Old School covers all old ground, but I still found it consistently funny
and entertaining. Maybe it’s that it relies much more on sex-and-debauchery
humor than the bathroom variety, or maybe it’s simply the enlightening
presence of comic genius Will Ferrell. Whether he’s turning into
his drunken alter-ego Frank the Tank, or becoming a depraved monster after
accidentally shooting himself with a tranquilizer gun, Ferrell has the
courage and shamelessness of all great physical comedians.
There are a lot of strong movies I could have seen and reviewed instead
of Old School. There’s the uber-serious suicide drama Love
Liza;
the violent Brazillian epic City of God, or the annihilating
darkness of Irreversible. I chose not to. Not because they’re
not good movies or important ones (although I think the world is brutal
enough without
Irreversible), but because when we stand on the brink of immeasurable
darkness, death, and injustice, cinema retrogrades to its vaudevillian
essence—a respite from horror.
Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites         
 |
Articles 
Subscribe to this comment's feed